Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 86 Entries. Friday, April 1 View Page I think I'm going to cry. Here's the farm patch as of yesterday. It's a massive mess. Sadly, here's the forecast for tomorrow: Rain mixed with snow changing to snow at times heavy and local blowing snow in the morning. Snowfall amount 10 to 20 cm. Wind northeast 30 km/h gusting to 50. Temperature steady near plus 1. I sure wish it was an April Fool's joke...... Wednesday, April 20 View Page Sorry about the quality of the photo. The snowfall April 1st-2nd gave us about 8 inches of snow, after the rain. At least at home I could get the tarps over the garden and keep it sort of dry.... We had then another 6 inches of snow on the 14th. It melted fast, but never went anywhere. Oh how I wish for wind... Saturday, April 23 View Page Almost done with the snow. The corners of the garden are under at least 4-6 inches of water. The edges are extremely wet. The manure we put on in the fall never got tilled in due to medical reasons, so it was a dirty, messy job trying to move it from the planting spot. The centre of the garden MAY.....MAY be workable in 5-6 days. Saturday, April 23 View Page To give myself a fighting chance, I tried to shovel the rest of the snow over the fence. My back kills. Animals are a little strange. The cat in the picture, Brando Jr., would not have anything to do with my dog Maggie the entire last season. On Maggie's last trip to the farm in October, Brando Jr. became Maggie's best friend. She must have known it was Maggie's last day with us. Today, she would not leave me alone and had to be beside me the entire time. Something new for her. Sorry for the editorial, but something happened here. Maggie, we miss you. Saturday, April 23 View Page Again, not the best picture to show what is going on. The ground is way too soft to do anything. Les' tractor is tearing up the driveway behind me as he goes to feed the cattle. We wanted to bring in a truckload of topsoil to fill in the corners of the garden, but it is not going to happen anytime soon. Trucks and tractors are getting stuck everywhere. The ground is heaving all over town and the roads are a brutal mess. The average temps for this time of year are a high of 15 and low of -1. We have yet to hit the average high since the beginning of March, although today we hit 10. This is going to be one messed up season, and I thought last year was bad. Monday, April 25 View Page The ground has finally dried out enough to do the lawn. Since we bought the house in 1997, this is the latest it has ever been done. The hoophouses went up last week at home, but has not been tilled yet. Alanna and I turned over the soil under the houses by hand and put in the heating cables. Everything is about 3 weeks behind this year. Tuesday, April 26 View Page We have to try something. If we wait until the garden dries out, it will be mid to late May before the plants go in the ground, if at all. So, Andrew and I mucked through the farm patch and put up our houses at the farm. It is way too wet to till. We managed to build up the soil in the middle of the garden and is quasi-workable. We put in the heating cables and turned it over by hand. The plan is to till into the houses once it dries, and before the roots push out...that's the plan. You can see the standing water behind Andrew. We hoped to put in extra soil to build up the corners. That's not happening anytime soon. The good news is all of the snow is gone. Thursday, April 28 View Page It was finally dry enough to till at home today. I lifted the sides of the houses and got about a foot into them. I was crazy enough to tarp both gardens at home before the last 3 major snowfalls. Otherwise, it wouldn't have happened for quite a while. Thursday, April 28 View Page And yes, I do have plants in the ground. The soil at home is warm and cozy inside the houses. These went in on the 23rd and the heaters are smoking every night. Alanna's should go in the ground later this weekend, unless the forecast for more snow tomorrow is correct. Soccer was cancelled due to the monsoon roaring through town tonight. Friday, April 29 View Page Spent another day bailing water. We didn't get any snow, but quite a bit of rain. We want wind! I can't believe I said that. My little pump kept getting plugged up so I came up with plan "B" If you look at the picture of Andrew putting together the hoophouse on April 26th, you will see an irrigation pipe behind him coming through the fence and a bucket on the ground. A gallon or so at a time away from the patch. It's simple, very messy, but it does work...unless more keeps falling from the sky. The day before the picture was taken, we had about 5 inches of water in the corner. Sunday, May 1 View Page Alanna's pumpkins went in today. She wanted to grow the 500 Northrup, but we couldn't get the two seeds we had to germinate. So, she's trying the 520 Mailey 09 (500 Northrup x 901 Hunt) and the 839.8 McGill (1170 Vincent-McGillx 998 Pukos) Friday, May 6 View Page I just can't win this year. Every time the ground almost dries out, it pours buckets. So, the buckets come out and I bail and bail.... You can see the irrigation pipe in the top left corner. Friday, May 6 View Page Another shot today. It was dry enough in the far hoophouse yesterday to plant my 1725 Harp. Andrew gets the closest house, but the ground is still too wet. Maybe tomorrow. Friday, May 6 View Page We needed to bring in some extra topsoil to help fill in the corners. I managed to get a load of soil today, but it is far too wet to get into the patch with the wheelbarrow, much less the tractor and the 10 yards we wanted to put in. So, we got out the buckets and hauled about a 1/2 yard of soil to the long gourd patch and Alex's corner. We had to stop early because it began to rain again. My kids did a great job helping out...until the farm cats showed up. It's going to be at least 10 days before we can till, but I've got to do something. Friday, May 6 View Page Here's Alex's corner. No hoophouse, no cables, just wet muck. We got enough soil over to cover the tarp. We got a good shower tonight and it was back to bailing. After he didn't get anything last year, I'm on a mission to get him a giant squash (his choice) The topsoil we brought in wasn't exactly dry either, but I did get a good workout. Let's just say that everyone needed a good shower tonight. Friday, May 6 View Page I can't believe they worked so hard at this. Alex had a great time filling buckets in the truck. The forecast doesn't look promising for another 3-4 days. His squash should be ready to go into the ground by the 8th, but I doubt the ground will be ready for the plants. Saturday, May 7 View Page Andrew's plants went in today. It's still wet inside, but the forecast looks encouraging. Wednesday, May 11 View Page Big day at the farm today. We put up Alex's house, got the heating cables in and put in his plants. The extra soil has built up the area, we plan to put in another load around the house this weekend. He's growing a 298 Blalock and my 825 Makarchuk squashes. He wants green. We've got a few backups ready to go if the rain floods me out again... Wednesday, May 11 View Page So here's the farm patch. Andrew's is on the right, mine is the middle, and Alex's is the back left. It is still way to wet to till. The middle might be ready to go by this weekend. Wednesday, May 11 View Page So, everything is planted....except for the backups. The water table is still high, and we have to empty the trench on the left twice a day. It has not rained in 6 days. I put in one long gourd plant at the farm today. I've got 3 more waiting if this one drowns. Let's get one going and see what happens. The farm never got tilled last fall. I don't know if anything else will be planted at all. Thursday, May 12 View Page More rain. We left the farm patch this night and low and behold, I turned around and saw a rainbow, right to the patch. I figured it means one of two things 1. Something big and magical is going to be grown this year or 2. It's just going to rain and rain and rain Wednesday, May 18 View Page It was dry enough in some spots to till on the 16th. The edges were still wet, but bearable. Today we brought in about 14 yards of topsoil to try and build up the corners and edges. I was going to till this in, but it started to rain..... Tuesday, May 24 View Page My apologies to Annie Lennox, but here comes the rain again. 1/2 and inch fell today, 1/2 and inch fell yesterday. The ground was already saturated. I haven't had to water anything at the farm yet this year. The soil is still too wet. Thursday, May 26 View Page Another inch of rain today, and another 2 in the forecast. Here's Alex's squash plants. The 294 Blalock is on the left, my 825 is on the right. I bailed about 100 gallons of water out of his planting spot. We built up the soil quite a bit, but it still is the lowest point in the garden. Thursday, May 26 View Page So, about 1/2 hour later, this is what the squash looked like. I came back 4 hours later and it was flooded again, without any more rain. I stepped off the boards by accident and sunk in about 18 inches. Thursday, May 26 View Page So here's an update. Here's my pumpkins at the farm. The right is the 1725 Harp. My first backup (can't even remember what it was) didn't germinate, so I figured I'd start another. On the right is the 1258.6 Lyons, just in case. Thursday, May 26 View Page Ok, the last post should have the 1258 Lyons on the LEFT. Here's Andrew's plants. You can see the water seeping in. On the right is the 1330.5 Johnson-Butler, and the left is the 1119.8 Mailey. It has been too wet to get in and do any weeding. Outside the houses, there are no weeds, other than a few dandilions. It's got to be bad when the weeds don't want to grow. Thursday, May 26 View Page The long gourds at the farm are doing very well. I stuck in a few tomato and pepper plants, just to keep them company. We raised this part up about 10 inches. Hopefully the rain stops. Thursday, May 26 View Page Here's Alanna's plants at home. This was taken on the 24th. Thursday, May 26 View Page Here's what is going on at home for myself. The 1236 Vincent-McGill plants are doing well. I just wish the sun would come out. Thursday, June 2 View Page I think I'm going to build an ark. We had a few days of sunshine, just enough to dry out the soil around the corners.....and then it started again. More rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain.......... Alanna has been a real trooper in bailing the water and carrying it away from the patch. The trench is draining water away from Andrew's plants Thursday, June 2 View Page Here's the house with my 1725 in it. It now has water pooling inside of it. I highly doubt anything else besides my plants will be put in the other side of the garden. I was hoping to do carrots, peas, potatos and onions in, but I just won't happen this year.....again Thursday, June 2 View Page Every few hours I bail Alex's house, and it keeps raining. I sure hope he gets a squash this year, but it's not looking good. I ran the Calgary Marathon Sunday morning, and came back to Taber that night to keep bailing his plants out. I could barely move my legs and there I was, trying to stay on the boards and move water. That night was more painful than the actual run. I pulled the power to the heating cables early last week. I didn't really feel like getting zapped. It is just too saturated, and it has been for a few weeks now and the water has no place to go. The really scary part is May is usually nice and June is the rainy season. If that trend for June is true, we're hooped. Monday, June 6 View Page The rain finally stopped Friday night. Saturday was ok, Sunday was the first nice day of the year with above average temps (26) and sunny. It was hot and humid and the mosquitos had a feast....me! So, today was the first day with no standing water in the farm patch.....until soccer started tonight and the skies opened up. I was told there won't be anything planted in the other half of the farm patch, so another 800 square feet are mine, but it is so wet I doubt my plants will need them. I give Alex's squash plants another 2-3 days. It's a sad death watch for his plants. The forecast looks wet for the next 4-5 days and it does not look good. I feel bad for him, but I feel worse for the farmers whose lives depend on decent weather. My problems are just my hobby. They are trying to feed their families. Les rents out his land behind the patch, but it is just way to wet to get a crop in. Tuesday, June 7 View Page It's been raining so much and there's so much water, the cats have started hanging out on the hoophouses. More rain yesterday and today. UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tuesday, June 7 View Page My 1725 Harp. The highest and best plant at the farm. Unfortunately, there are puddles forming under the plant and around the edges. It's all seeping in from the sides. Tuesday, June 7 View Page At least I have this one. I'm down to one 1236 as of today. The big hoophouse went up on Saturday. Sunday, June 12 View Page Alanna is going with the 839.9 McGill. She pulled the 520 Mailey today. The plants at home are about average for the year. She's got a bit of weeding to do. Tuesday, June 14 View Page It's official, the 294 Blalock is dead. Alex's 825 squash is barely hanging on. We planted another 825 for him as a backup back in May and we were going to put it in earlier, but it has been too wet. So, it went in on the 14th. Otherwise, it was in the compost bin. So we decided to just go for it. It's rootbound, but it's not dead....yet. We also started a few more 825s for him today. He's only 5, so if he only pulls 50-100lbs, he'll be happy. Unfortunately, the ground is soaked and the forecast is for more rain. It just keeps coming and coming. The 1725 Harp is slowly growing, but it is too wet to bury the vines. Andrew's plants are slow as well. UGH! Thursday, June 23 View Page It's been a nice few warm days....except for the pretty good thunderstorm that rolled through town today. It's been two days now without any standing water in the patch. Alex's first 825 is still kicking, barely. We've got another one ready to go into the ground in a few days, once it dries up enough. Thursday, June 23 View Page Andrew's 1330. He pulled the 1119.8 Mailey today, it was about the same size as the 1330. When you step off the boards, you only sink about 2 inches. The soil inside the houses is finally dry enough to do some work. The farm plants are about 3 weeks behind. Thursday, June 23 View Page Ooops, forgot to include the picture for the 1330.5 Thursday, June 23 View Page The 1725 Harp. Nothing is being grown in the other side of the garden, so we are training vines to take up as much space as we can. The soil was too wet to bury the vines, so we used seed starting mix to cover the vines. If it stays clear the next 4-5 days, we should be good enough to give the soil around the houses another till to loosen things up. Thursday, June 23 View Page Alanna's 839.8 McGill. You can't go out to check the plants without bug spray. We have never seen mosquitos this big and this bad before. You can't open your mouth without getting a few flying in. Thursday, June 23 View Page Alanna's 839.8 McGill. You can't go out to check the plants without bug spray. We have never seen mosquitos this big and this bad before. You can't open your mouth without getting a few flying in. Thursday, June 23 View Page The 1236 Vincent-McGill at home. There's a female about 12.5 feet out that should open in about 4-5 days Wednesday, July 6 View Page It seems this is the year of extremes. I did something today I thought I wouldn't do for a while. I set up the sprinklers and watered. It has been very hot and lots of wind lately. There has been no standing water anywhere for about 10 days and the ground has dried out. A convection oven is a good way to describe the weather lately. The hoophouses at the farm came down two days ago. Thursday, July 7 View Page Andrew's 1330.5 Things have been growing slowly. Thursday, July 7 View Page My 1725 Harp. There's a female that opened at 8 feet today. We'll let the plant grow a bit more. Thursday, July 7 View Page We'll try this again. Alex planted another 825 squash today. The extra one planted on the 18th of June is still going, although has not grown much. His first 825 is barely alive. So....we'll see what wins. Will he get a squash this year? Who knows. Thursday, July 7 View Page Alanna's 839.8 McGill. Thursday, July 7 View Page The 1236 Vincent McGill squash. The first female was at 4 feet. June 29th had another at 12.5 and was pollinated with itself, the 1725 and Alanna's 839.8 McGill. The way this year is going, I just threw all the pollen I had at it. Today, another opened up at 16 feet. It was pollinated with the 1725 Harp. Friday, July 8 View Page This just isn't my year. The wind has been howling all day. Gusts to 80-90km/h at times have ripped all the secondary vines out of the ground on the side of the main facing the wind. I tried to rebury them, but the wind is still going and more is coming tomorrow. UGH! Friday, July 8 View Page Sorry, that last post was talking about the 1236 Vincent McGill squash. Alanna's plant was beat up as well. The farm plants are so pitiful with so few secondaries that they are holding up well with the wind. Friday, July 15 View Page I guess you can't hang around the patch all summer. Andrea and I turned 40 and celebrated our 15th anniversary this year, so it was time to do something we've never done. Take a vacation with no kids. Two weeks in France and Italy was wonderful. Sunday, July 17 View Page After 4 days in Paris, we headed up to Normandy. We visited the Abbaye D'Ardenne,the Canadian War Cemetary at Beny Sur Mer, and the Juno Beach Centre. Visiting the cemetary was one of the most moving experienced of my life. Wednesday, July 20 View Page After 2 days in Caen, it was off to Rome. Sunday, July 24 View Page After visiting several museums, churches, monuments, and tourist sites, it was time for a break. 4 days on the Island of Elba was a great time. Tuesday, July 26 View Page Finally, it was a few days in Florence. I can't remember how many bell towers and church domes we climbed up on this trip. I don't know when we will do a trip like this again. We're glad we did it. After the crappy spring for pumpkins, I didn't worry about the plants too much while we were gone. Tuesday, August 9 View Page So here's the farm patch today. The plant on the left is Andrew's 1330.5 Johnson Butler, the one on the right is my 1725 Harp. Andrew's pumpkin opened at 7 feet on July 10th and was pollinated with the 1725. My 1725, well, was pollinated on the 28th. The bees took care of this one. The few females earlier on the main shrivelled before they could open earlier in July. Tuesday, August 9 View Page Andrew finally has a squash going. His second 825 Makarchuk that was actually started as a backup and planted in mid June is the best squash plant so far. We pollinated this with the 1725. Tuesday, August 9 View Page Ooops, Alex's squash opened on August 5th. Here is his plant today. If he can get 100 pounds, he'll be happy. Tuesday, August 9 View Page At home, here's the 1236 Vincent McGill squash. Tuesday, August 9 View Page Alanna's 839.8 McGill Tuesday, August 9 View Page The long gourds at home. Tuesday, August 9 View Page I guess the best thing growing in my garden is my tall sunflowers. The amount of growth these things have put on since we got home is amazing. Thursday, September 29 View Page It's picking time. Andrew and Alex have combined their efforts this summer. Andrew spent way too much time on the golf course and Alex spent way too much time helping Andrew with his pumpkin. Here's the 1330 Johnson-Butler Final measurements 66-73-114 OTT of 253 inches and estimated weight of 349 pounds. Thursday, September 29 View Page The other side of the 1330. It was a very hot, dry summer, with only 2 days of 1/4 inch of rain each since the third week of June. Two totally different seasons this year. Thursday, September 29 View Page Alanna's 839.8 McGill. Grown only 80 square feet of soil, she did pretty good. 69.5-69.5-120 for OTT of 259 and estimated weight of 373 Thursday, September 29 View Page My 1236 Vincent-McGill final measurements 82.5-80-123 and OTT of 285 and estimated weight of 495 lbs. It was a tough year here. The first real rain of the summer was September 1st, and the growth of all pumpkins spiked that day. I guess they don't like town water. The largest daily gain was only 15 pounds. The windstorm of July 8th took a toll with the secondary vines being ripped out of the ground and having to be reburied. Thursday, September 29 View Page Another view of the 1236. I lost the pumpkin on the 1725 Harp in mid-August. It took a while to get started, then just stopped growing. Thursday, September 29 View Page The long gourd at the farm. Something messed up the plant and the gourd stopped growing in late August. I'm going to dry this one to make a shaker. Thursday, September 29 View Page The long gourds at home. The one on the board finished out at 88.5 inches, while the one hanging down finished at 70 inches. Saturday, October 1 View Page After a stop in Calgary to pick up my Dad, Alanna, Alex and myself made the trip up to Smoky Lake Saturday, October 1 View Page Here's the lineup of big pumpkins at Smoky. Saturday, October 1 View Page Here's Alex's squash off of one of the 825 Makarchuk plants. I was pollinated in late August. Saturday, October 1 View Page The 1236 Vincent-McGill comes in at 581.4, 17.5% heavy. Good enough for first place at Smoky. Saturday, October 1 View Page Andrew and Alex's 1300 Johnson Butler came in at 341.6, 1.9% light. 6th place. Saturday, October 1 View Page Alanna's 839.8 McGill came in at 318.4, 14% light. This one had a lot of attention with the photographers afterwards. Saturday, October 1 View Page Here's John Lobay's 934. It had a blossom end split, but still got the Howard Dill Award. What a nice shape. Saturday, October 1 View Page Last, Don Crews brought this 1081 and won the pumpkin category. Here's Don with weigh-off announcer, Danny Hooper (in hat) Sunday, October 23 View Page Things are changing out at the farm patch. It's time to expand.... Monday, October 31 View Page We've never had a thunderstorm on Halloween. The seasons seem to be all messed up these days. Monday, October 31 View Page Things are busy with hockey and not nearly enough time to carve the pumpkins, but we got it done. We had around 85 kids this year. Monday, October 31 View Page All lit up Friday, November 11 View Page This is what we've got so far. We put in about 2 yards of horse manure and about a yard of llama manure, as well as several bags of leaves. The soil may not be as good as I want in the spring, but you have to start somewhere.